Family Catechesis: What can families do to teach the Catholic faith to their children

First, follow the directives given by Pope John Paul II in Catechesi Tradendae, the most fundamental papal document on catechesis. I have added some headings to facilitate reading of the text:

1. SPECIAL CHARACTER. The family's catechetical activity has a special character, which is in a sense irreplaceable. This special character has been rightly stressed by the Church, particularly by the Second Vatican Council.

2. THROUGH PERSONAL WITNESS. Education in the faith by parents, which should begin from the children's tenderest age, is already being given when the members of a family help each other to grow in faith through the witness of their Christian lives, a witness that is often without words but which perseveres throughout a day-to-day life lived in accordance with the Gospel.

3. EXPLANATION OF FAMILY EVENTS. This catechesis is more incisive when, in the course of family events (such as the reception of the sacraments, the celebration of great liturgical feasts, the birth of a child, a bereavement) care is taken to explain in the home the Christian or religious content of these events.

4. REPEAT THE METHODICAL TEACHING GIVEN IN CHURCH AND SCHOOL. But that is not enough: Christian parents must strive to follow and repeat, within the setting of family life, the more methodical teaching received elsewhere. The fact that these truths about the main questions of faith and Christian living are thus repeated within a family setting impregnated with love and respect will often make it possible to influence the children in a decisive way for life. The parents themselves profit from the effort that this demands of them, for in a catechetical dialogue of this sort each individual both receives and gives.

5. KEY IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY CATECHESIS. Family catechesis therefore precedes, accompanies and enriches all other forms of catechesis. Furthermore, in places where anti- religious legislation endeavors even to prevent education in the faith, and in places where widespread unbelief or invasive secularism makes real religious growth practically impossible, "the church of the home" remains the one place where children and young people can receive an authentic catechesis.

6. HELPING PARENTS IN FAMILY CATECHESIS IS PRICELESS. Thus there cannot be too great an effort on the part of Christian parents to prepare for this ministry of being their own children's catechists and to carry it out with tireless zeal. Encouragement must also be given to the individuals or institutions that, through person-to-person contacts, through meetings, and through all kinds of pedagogical means, help parents to perform their task: The service they are doing to catechesis is beyond price.

To help parents to perform no. 5, to repeat and discuss the methodical teaching in the Church, here are sites where parents can find materials that discuss the Scriptural readings of the day.

Readings of the Day

• EWTN Daily Mass Readings
• USCCB Today’s Readings

Reflections and Homilies on the Readings

• iPraywiththeGospel
• My Catholic Life's Catholic Daily Reflections
• Evangeli.net
• Scott Hahn's Sunday Bible Reflection  
• Word on Fire – Homilies of Bishop Robert Barron 

 

The rationale behind these resources are explained in these two articles: Resources for Praying the Scripture of the Day and Meditating on the Bible.

Parents can also use the Vatican's listing of Catechism points that are relevant to the Sunday liturgical readings: Sunday Liturgical Readings and Catechism Doctrine.

Since personal witness is important, according to the Popes, a key to Family Catechesis is Family Prayer, which is explained and taught in